KARIBU MAISHANI

KARIBU MAISHANI

Monday, May 3, 2010

Robinson signed for Blackburn in July 2008 for a fee of £3


Robinson signed for Blackburn in July 2008 for a fee of £3.5m after suffering a dramatic loss of form for both club and country while with Tottenham.
The 'keeper had been viewed as one of the best young prospects in the game before a freak goal was blamed on him in England's 2-0 defeat to Croatia in Zagreb and his confidence was shattered.

A product of the Leeds youth system, he first showed signs of his talent when helping the club to the FA Youth Cup final in 1997 and semi-finals a year later. He established himself as Nigel Martyn's understudy, following a series of excellent performances during the 1998-99 season, when Martyn was out through injury. Another injury to Martyn, this time during the 2000-01 season, gave Robinson the chance to promote himself further up the pecking order and he grabbed it with both hands.

Excellent performances domestically and in the Champions League were duly noted by England manager Sven Goran Eriksson, but he did not displace David Seaman and was England's goalkeeper at the European Under-21 Championships in May 2002.

Robinson grabbed his first senior cap against Australia at Upton Park, in February 2003, as part of England's second-half 'Young XI' and continued to impress in the league. But looked to be on his way out of Elland Road in January 2004 as the crisis-torn club looked to balance the books. In fact, Robinson only made the move in May with Leeds' relegation confirmedand joined Tottenham for £1.5m.

He was subsequently named in England's squad for Euro 2004, although only as understudy to David James, but succeeded his senior partner after the finals in Sven Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren's teams and made the shirt his own.

The stopper also made the Spurs No.1 shirt his own and earned a new seven-year contract in 2005-06 although, despite getting on the scoresheet with a long goal-kick against England rival, Watford's Ben Foster, his form became erratic.

Robinson collected the first major trophy of his career in Tottenham's 2-1 victory over Chelsea in the 2008 League Cup final, but Heurelho Gomes' arrival saw the end of his spell at White Hart Lane and he was snapped up by Blackburn that summer.

Robinson was ever-present in England's 2006 World Cup finals team, but a missed clearance against Croatia in qualifying for Euro 2008, saw the end of his international ambitions for two years and he was only called back for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhsatan and Andorra because regular keeper David James was injured

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